2,700 miles on the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route 2014

Day 25: Thurs 8/7, Yellowstone Day 4! 48 miles

Oh my gosh! Today is the day I get to see Kyle and the CDT hikers! I’m soooooo stoked!! :D. I pretty much just rode straight to the Lonestar trailhead where I was going to hike in to find them. There wasn’t anything along the way I felt like stopping for to look at, which was nice because I was just jonesing to get there 🙂

I rode by Yellowstone Lake, specifically the West Thumb of it. My goodness that lake is absolutely huge. I took a pic of it. It’s a pretty crappy picture actually. Lol. It was a very lovely lake, I just didn’t catch the right angle. The mountains to the east, that framed the lake were pretty amazing.

When I originally decided to circle Yellowstone in a counterclockwise fashion, I now realized I didn’t take the most efficient route. The way I’m going, I have to ride over the continental divide 4 times. Two passes going toward Lonestar trailhead, then twice again coming back. Damn. That’s a lot of uphill. Lol! That’s ok though, the climbs didn’t end up being too difficult. It rained, however. Which is nothing new, it’s been raining everyday since I got to Yellowstone.

So the cool thing is, the backcountry campsite that Kyle and his crew are staying at, is relatively easy for me to get to. Lonestar Trail is one of the few trails I can actually ride a bike on, in Yellowstone, then I just need to walk 100 yards further down the trail to get to the site. Yay! This is good, as the little backpack I have is not made for packing gear on it. But I still managed to load my sleeping bag, pad, tent, clothes, and food in it.

I was the first one there so I set my tent up, then I rode around 10 miles round trip to do a beer run for the hikers. Trail magic! 🙂 I later found out that they hiked a 34 mile day to get to that campsite. Holy freakin crap!!! That is an insane amount of miles, to do by foot. These guys are so amazing.

Around 6:30/7, Kyle shows up first. I was sooooo stoked to see him!! 🙂 Then Stride, Southern, Data, Otter, and Shutterbug trickle in after. Glad I brought a 12-pak! Lol! They were pretty stoked. A beer must taste pretty epic after a 34 mile day. Funny, but I think all those hikers did the PCT the same year I did. I remember meeting Data, and I think the others were ahead of me the whole time so I never met them, I only saw their names in trail registers and stuff. And of course Kyle i walked over 2,000 miles of the PCT with him. What an awesome little mini-reunion 🙂

Thru-hikers earn a trail name at some point in their journey, usually within the first 300 miles. And that’s generally what you go by, on trail, the whole time. Which is how I got the name “Dancing Feet”, while I was on the PCT. Cyclists don’t seem to do the trail name thing. It’s a totally different world, thru-hiking and cycle touring. With thru-hiking, it’s a whole culture and lifestyle thing, living in the backcountry for many many months. You often develop a trail family, with hikers around you, and it’s very communal. With cycle touring, it’s a lot less personable, and you’re pretty much on your own, unless you choose to seek out and ride with other people. I dunno how to explain it, but they’re both so incredible different and awesome in their own ways. 🙂